Apparatus for extracting metal staples



Jan. 19, 1965 M. FOURNIER 3,166,296

APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING METAL STAPLES Filed Nov. 15, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 19, 1965 M. ouRm 3,166,296

mmrus For: EXTRACTING new. smuss Filed Nov. 15. 1961 2 sheets-slim 2 United States Patent 3,166,296 APPARATUS FUR EXTRACTING METAL STAPLES Michel Fournier, 26 Rue Crespin, Le Perreux (Seine), France Filed Nov. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 152,526 Claims priority, application France, Dec. 28, 1960, 848,140 9 Claims. (El. 254-28) This invention relates to metal staples which are constituted by a steel'wire, the two ends of which are folded over the middle part with the aid of devices known as stapling machines, which are in current use for joining together sheets of paper or cardboard.

The invention has the principal object of providing a staple extractor of minimum dimensions and which is extremely sturdy and very inexpensive to produce.

Another object of the invention is to obtain a staple extractor which gives full dependability in operation'because the staple can be engaged by two different means, which moreover cooperate with one another in order to reinforce one anothers action.

With these objects in mind, the staple extractor according to the invention comprises two jaws, on one of which a blade is articulatedly designed to engage the staple when in position, while a second jaw serves as a support base on the support of the staple and a means of guiding the said blade, guiding means being provided to effect the raising of the blade above the level of the support base after the engagement of the staple, and thereby to extract the staple.

The effect obtained by the operation of the principal means may be reinforced by the simultaneous operation of one or more of the following means:

The engagement of the staple by the blade is facilitated by a stop, which arrests the relative movement of the second jaw in relation to the staple, and thus contributes toward fixing the point of engagement.

This stop is preferably bevelled with an oblique surface in relation to the support base, so as to initiate the raising movement of the blade.

According to a development of the principle of the invention, this stop is in the form of a rounded point, so as to facilitate its engagement beneath the staple on the side of the staple opposite to the side by which it is engaged by the blade.

As a result of this last measure, the device thus completed can be considered as a combination of two means of engagement of theblade, acting in opposite directions to one another, one serving where necessary as a stop for the staple in order to facilitate the action of the other,

and reciprocally.

Finally, the blade will advantageously be cut away to provide two points of engagement one on each side of the point of engagement of the bevel.

One example of the performance of the invention will be indicated below, Without the applicant however intending to limit the generic scope of this invention to the features specific to the examples selected as an illustration.

This example is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a general view of the device according to the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing the placing in position of the staple extractor in relation to the staple, the sheets of paper which the staple is supposed to join together and constituting the support of the staple not having been shown for the sake of clarity in the drawing.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view, from the same angle as FIGURE 2, showing the end of the attack immediately before ejection.

3,165,296 Patented Jan. 19, 1965 FIGURE 4 is a view in elevation of the blade according to another embodiment,

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the blade of FIG. 4, and

FIGURE 6 is a detail of the guide of FIG. 4.

In the drawings, 1 designates the jaw by which the blade 2 is articulated and which will be referred to as the upper jaw, while 3 designates the second or lower jaw. As can be seen in FIGURES 1 and 4, the blade 2 is articulated at 4 on the jaw [by means of an axis around which a coil spring 5 is wound, the said spring having the eifect of moving apart the jaw 1 and the blade 2.

The jaws 1 and 3 are articulated together at 6.

The bottom jaw 3 has an opening 7 of generally rectangular shape but having a projecting part 8 forming a paper hold-down portion and stop means of rounded shape and bevelled.

The blade 2 is here made in a single piece which serves at the same time as blade and blade carrier. At the rear part, the sheet metal has been folded to form two side walls 9 which have above all the function of serving as a support for the articulation 4.

The front part of the blade 2 has been cut away to provide two points of attack 10 and 11, intended to attack the staple symmetrically in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bevel of the hold-down portion 8. On the sides of the blade two side tongues have been cut out at 12 and 13, by which the blade bears on the base which is supplied for it by the fiat part of the lower jaw 3 on each side of the rectangular opening 7 and which also bears on the raised sides of the said lower jaw. A double guiding of the blade is thus obtained.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 4-6, beneath the blade is situated an auxiliary guide device which is constituted by a guide 14 of generally cylindrical shape and by its support 15 which is formed by a suitably curved blade terminating in a fork the branches of which are designated by 16 and 17.

The guide 14 is welded to the free end of the blade 15, while the other end of the said blade is fixed to the jaw 1 by a screw 26.

The branches 16 and 17 have a spacing so calculated that they can engage exactly in the opening 7 and thus serve as a means of guiding for the guide 14 itself and consequently for the blade 2.

As the result of this arrangement, the guide 14 bears by the ends or its lower generatrix, at 19 and at 20, on the base of the jaw 3, thus constituting a sort of slide, and thus contributing to the guiding.

Finally, the length of the cylinder 14 is so calculated that the end faces 21 land 22 also serve as a guide by following the raised side walls of the jaw 3.

The multiplicity of the guidings thus obtained enables very great accuracy to be obtained in the operation of the mechanism, although each of the guiding elements is extremely simple to produce.

On its front face the guide 14 can have a semi-cylindrical slot 18 in which at the end of the movement the point of the bevel 8 can be received.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, the auxiliary guide device which has been hereinabove described has been replaced by an equivalent device which constitutes an alternative for it and which consists in folding the blade so as to form a synclinal which is represented by the broken line 25. The lower generatrix of the synclinal 24 may be likened as regards its operation, to the lower generatr-ix of the cylinder 14 in FIG. 4.

The operation will be described with reference to FIG- URES 2 and 3, in which for the sake of convenience the rear ends of the two jaws have been eliminated.

In these figures, 23 designates the staple, but the sheets of paper connected by the staple have not been shown.

in any position between the end or the bevel '8 and the end of the blade 2.

The apparatus having thus been placed in position, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, pressure is applied to the jaw 1, so as to close it and as a result the blade is caused to slide and through its various guides is guided towards the staple-23. At the moment when the attaching points 10 and 11 of the blade arrive in contact with the staple, the latter constitutes a sort of stop which effects a relative movement of the jaw 3 until the staple comes to strike against the stop consituted by the bevel 8.

At that moment the staple is thus attacked at three attaching points and consequently either the bevel 8 or the attaching points 10 and 11 of the three attacking points simultaneously tend to penetrate beneath the blade. At that moment the generatrix '24 (or the bottom generatrix of thecylinder 14) comes into contact with the edges of the opening 7, so that from that moment onwards the blade 2 acts as a lever, tending to raise the staple, the blade through the guiding effect tending to rock around the .generatrix 24 and the immediately adjoining generatrices.

During the extraction of the staple, the sheets of paper which it connected together are held securely by the pressure applied by the support base, and not only by the whole of that base, but particularly by the bevel which presses against the paper at the most sensitive point, that is to say practically between the two folded branches of the staple. As a result, the middle part of the staple being raised as shown in FIGURE 3, the'ends of the stapleare straightened, so that it tends to assume its original rectangular shape or a similar. shape.

From the moment when the straightened branches of the staple oifer no further resistance, the whole staple is abruptly ejected before the jaw 1 is totally closed over the jaw 3. 1 Y

' It will be observed that in the closed position the torque applied bythe spring has a practically zero value and the jaws 1 and 3 do not tend to move apart, the torque being insufiicient to overcome the friction applied between the folded edges of the jaws 1 and 3.

The stapler extractor as a whole is no larger than the miniature staplers which have recently become widespread in the trade-and which are easily held in the hollow of the hand. If however it is required to extract much heavier staples, for example staples used for packing purposes, larger appliances will naturally be used.

What we claim is: j

1. A staple extractor, comprising in combination an upper and a lower jaw, a pivot, said jaws being pivoted at one of their extremities on said pivot, a blade pivoted on the upper jaw at a distance from said pivot extending toward the said lower jaw at an angle'thereto and having an extremity designed to engage the crossbar of a staple to be extracted, said lower jaw being designed to constitute a support base and having a paper 4% hold down and staple engageable stop means at its end remote from said pivot, and guide means provided on said lower jaw to guide the movement of said extremity of said blade engaging the crossbar of the staple toward said hold down and stop means as a consequence of the relative movement of said jaws.

2. In a staple extractor as set forth in claim 1 said stop means on said lower jaw being disposed at a distance from said extremity of said blade when the extractor is positioned on its support base, whereby said stop means abuts the crossbar of the staple upon movement of said jaws when said blade is operated by the upper jaw.

3. A staple extractor as set forth in claim 1, in which the lower jaw is provided with an opening having two parallel edges substantially parallel to the direction of movement of said extremity of said blade, the space between said edges being of a width corresponding to the width of said extremity, so that said extremity can pass between said edges.

4. A staple extractor as set forth in claim 1, in which said blade is provided between its extremities with guide means disposed to cooperate with corresponding guide means on' said lower jaw before the end of the displacement of said extremity after said extremity has engaged the crossbar of the staple, whereby said extremity is raised relatively to said support base to raise the crossbar of the staple.

5. A staple extractor as set forth in claim 1, in which said lower jaw has a U-shaped cross section forming a base and two side walls, said side walls constituting said guiding means.

6. A staple extractor as set forth in claim 2, in which said stopmeans includes a portion to be inserted under the crossbar of the staple, when pressed against said staple, as a consequence of the relative movement of said aws.

7. A staple extractor as set forth in claim 6, in which said step means is in the form of a thin tapered rounded point.

8. A staple extractor as set forth in claim 7, in which the blade is formed with two forwardly extending points of attack, the space between said points of attack being of a width corresponding to the said stop means, whereby the crossbar of the staple can be engaged simultaneously by said stop means and said points of attack.

9. A staple extractor as set forth in claim 3, in which cooperating guide means are provided on said lower jaw and on said blade to guide the extremity of said blade in a plane flush with the support surface of said lower References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,153,904 Freeman Sept. 21, 1915 1,166,419 Allan Jan. 4, 1916 1,294,600 Baldwin et a1. Feb. 18, 1919 1,948,096 Cavanagh Feb. 20, 1934 2,539,171 Yerkes Jan. 23, 1951 I FOREIGN PATENTS 1,019,366 France n Oct. 29, 1952 

1. A STAPLE EXTRACTOR, COMPRISING IN COMBINATION AN UPPER AND A LOWER JAW, A PIVOT, SAID JAWS BEING PIVOTED AT ONE AT THEIR EXTREMITIES ON SAID PIVOT, A BLADE PIVOTED ON THE UPPER JAW AT A DISTANCE FROM SAID PIVOT EXTENDING TOWARD THE SAID LOWER JAW AT AN ANGLE THERETO AND HAVING AN EXTREMITY DESINGED TO ENGAGE THE CROSSBAR OF A STAPLE TO BE EXTRACTED, SAID LOWER JAW BEING DESIGNED TO CONSTITUTE A SUPPORT BASE AND HAVING A PAPER HOLD DOWN AND STAPLE ENGAGEABLE STOP MEANS AT ITS END REMOTE FROM SAID PIVOT, AND GUIDE MEANS PROVIDED ON SAID LOWER JAW TO GUIDE THE MOVEMENT OF SAID EXTREMITY OF SAID BLADE ENGAGING THE CROSSBAR OF THE STAPLE TOWARD SAID HOLD DOWN AND STOP MEANS AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE RELATIVE MOVEMENT OF SAID JAWS. 